Delegation of Authority to Decide Employee Grievances


In Reply Refer To:
Mail Stop 601
#20000168

                                  MEMORANDUM

                                              March 1, 2000

To:   All Managers and Supervisors

From: Barbara J. Ryan /s/ Barbara J. Ryan
      Associate Director for Operations

Subject: Delegation of Authority to Decide Employee Grievances

The authority to issue a decision on a formal grievance is currently 
delegated to the Chief, Office of Program Support, for grievances filed by 
Headquarters and Eastern Region employees, and to the Chief of each 
Regional Service Center for grievances filed by employees in their 
respective regions.

By copy of this memorandum, I am delegating the authority to decide formal 
grievances to the next higher organizational level above the supervisor 
who would have responded to the grievance during the informal stage of the 
process.  For example, if an employee filed an informal grievance 
concerning denial of annual leave by the supervisor, the second level 
supervisor would have responded to the grievant.  If the employee is 
dissatisfied with the response and then files a formal grievance on the 
same subject, with this delegation, the third level supervisor would now 
issue that decision.

Supervisors must consult with the servicing personnel office for 
assistance in preparing grievance responses at both the informal and 
formal stages of the process.  In addition, the servicing personnel 
officer’s concurrence in the decision must be obtained at the  formal stage 
of the process in order to assure the document is technically correct 
prior to issuing the decision to the grievant.

This change will be reflected in the Survey Manual along with other 
changes in delegations of authority at a future date.

If you have any questions, please call your servicing personnel office.